Itachi's Confession
by Constance-Lirit
Summary: One shot - Itachi is preparing for the inevitable fight against his brother, Sasuke, but before he is ready to go he wishes to make sure he proceeds with as little regrets as he can manage. Some bridges are harder to cross than others.
It was quiet, very quiet. Just how Itachi liked it, it allowed him to think, to mull over the inevitable fight he would soon have with his brother, Sasuke. A battle that would finally put an end to the long war between them, a battle that would finally make all of the Uchiha's plans and true intentions come to pass. Before he could face Sasuke however he found it important for himself to tie off any loose ends, to make sure that he would not die with too many regrets. That, however, had become slightly problematic when he could do nothing more than sit in his room brooding over the fact that he had one bridge he had not crossed yet, whatever this frayed tether was it certainly continued to elude the Uchiha.
Narrowing his gaze Itachi just could not bring himself to read the same page in his novel for the fourth time that same hour, unlike his usual persona he just could not concentrate. Every little thing was a distraction; the croaking of swamp toads from his open window, the sound of Pein's television in the room next door blaring through into his room, the never-ending shouting perpetuating from Lokier's mouth as she, from outside, cheered on a pair of snails who were, in her mind, racing one another.

'Lokier' his mind wandered, much like his ebony eyes. Gazing at the window Itachi soon rose from his chair and came over to the window to look out at the albino woman, her arm was in the air as she punched it up and down and screamed for either snail to win. Apparently she did not care to choose a specific snail either, as long as one of them won that was all that mattered. Deciding to go downstairs and humour her, for lack of better things to do in his current state, Itachi left the base and stepped out onto the gloomy streets of Amegakure.  
"C'mon, Speedy!" she shouted, having by this point chosen to cheer on the other mollusc instead.  
"What are you doing?" Itachi asked, feigning ignorance.  
"Snail racing." Lokier answered, looking up at Itachi with her perpetual lilac and pink Rinnegan. It was said that the Rinnegan was an anomaly that did not exist outside of fairy tales, and Itachi would have agreed that such eyes did not exist had Lokier and Pein not both been blessed with them.

Glancing at the snails when Lokier went back to shouting at them, as if that would speed them up, Itachi then stared at the back of her head. How long had he known this childish woman who never seemed to act the age she was a day in her life? As long as he had been in the Akatsuki he was certain; the very first day he had come to stay with Pein and continue his training in hiding, far from wanted posters and equally troublesome bounty hunters, there Lokier had been. He could remember it all too well, their first meeting had been nothing short of messy.  
"Itachi Uchiha will be living here with us from now on. He just lost his home so don't say anything stupid." Pein had very plainly told the white haired child peering up at him. All at once her flat expression had burst into a large grin, revealing a missing tooth on the bottom left of her mouth when she turned her head down to look at him instead. An apt feature for someone who looked like they had just been rescued from a zoo.  
"'m Lok'er!" she stated cheerfully, grabbing his hand before he could even introduce himself appropriately. "'m gonna show 'tachi around the base!" she then proceeded to proclaim, while Pein simply watched Lokier thunder off with the poor Uchiha being dragged along behind her.

Half way along the corridor Itachi had finally shaken his hand loose, his expression churning a little when he realised his hand was sticky.  
"Don't worry, t's just jam." she reassured him, but that did not make is any more pleasant to know. "Th's 's my room." Lokier then proclaimed, showing him the chaotic mess on the inside.  
"… It suits you." the Uchiha commented with flattened features.  
"Th's 's your room." she then told him, pushing open his door to reveal a clean, untouched bedroom. "'t'll be n'ce to have a fr'end." Lokier continued, still grinning at him through a jungle of shoulder length ruffled hair that covered most of her eyes.

Itachi could do nothing more than stare at her however, her grin fading ever so slightly.  
"You don't talk much. K'same w'll l'ke you." she uttered, pointing at the door on the opposite side of Itachi's door. "That's Pe'n's room, he's really awesome!" she informed him, returning back to grinning like an idiot.  
"Pein informed me that I'd be working with Orochimaru, where is he?" he asked, deciding to ask for information on something he did not actually know before this idiot started telling him more asinine things.  
"Oroch'maru doesn't l've with us; 't's just me, you, P'en and Konan…" Lokier explained, her voice trailing off. "There's also the monster 'n the att'c, but we aren't allowed up there, so you don't have to be scared about that." she whispered, whereas Itachi simply continued to question Lokier's IQ level.  
"… How old are you?" Itachi questioned, having been previously certain the leader had mentioned something about meeting someone his own age while he was here.  
"Th'rteen." she replied, glowing with pride. "Th's 's my last baby tooth that needs to grow 'n, too." she added, pointing to the gap in her row of front teeth as if he had not noticed it before.

Much to his disappointment it seemed as though Lokier was in fact the person Pein had been referring to, though he was slightly disappointed to know the only person around here that was the same age as him was a complete twit. He supposed it was nothing new though, he had become quite accustomed to hanging out with people far older than himself as an ANBU captain, and as such it would not surprise him if he got on a lot better with them than another person his own age.  
"Hey, you hungry? The k'tchen's over here. You came from far away 'n the f're country, r'ght?" Lokier enquired, trying to lead him to said kitchen.  
"I think I will retire to my room for the night." Itachi replied, feeling more tired than hungry at this point in time.  
"Oh, okay." she spoke, looking a little disappointed. "'ll tell Pe'n you've gone to bed." Lokier informed him, taking a moment to think where she needed to go to get there quickest. "'t's n'ce to know 've a fr'end now." Lokier spoke, grinning at him through a jungle of ruffled, shoulder length hair that partially covered her eyes. 'Friend?' Itachi questioned internally, watching her rush off haphazardly and almost bounce off a wall as she turned a corner.

Blinking Lokier peered up at Itachi who was staring rather intently at her back, her hand raising to poke him when he stirred back into life on his own.  
"Are you tired? You look troubled." the albino questioned, while Itachi just gave her his usual plain stare which motioned back towards the snails. "You're losing right now." she stated, turning to look at the two insects.  
"Since when as I taking part in this stupidity?" the Uchiha quietly asked under his breath, coming a little closer to sit down next to Lokier thereafter.  
"Your brother survived that explosion by the way." the albino abruptly commented, gaining his attention.  
"Hn." Itachi answered, not at all surprised by this. He already knew fine well Sasuke was alive and well, but Lokier always seemed to relay information to him after the fact.  
"Now he's claiming he totally defeated Deidara. Making your opponent blow himself up doesn't count!"Lokier protested, frowning at the two snails a little. "You'd better kick his ass since Pein wont let me leave the tower and do it myself." the albino stated sternly, giving him a warning gaze.

It had been no mystery why Lokier was so sour about the entire situation, one by one the members of the Akatsuki that she had grown to know over the space of ten years had been snubbed out by leaf-nin, and now Sasuke had killed the only guy in the organisation Itachi could safely say Lokier had ever had even the slightest interest in.  
"Do you think you'd stand a chance against Sasuke?" Itachi asked, trying to visualise anything other than defeat for the woman in a match against his brother.  
"I'd totally win!" she huffed. "If I can kick your ass I can definitely kick his." she continued with certainty.  
"As far as I'm aware you're yet to defeat me in even one fight." the Uchiha murmured, even now Lokier was incredibly delusional.  
"Is that so? Then who, may I ask, is totally kicking your ass at snail racing right now?" she questioned with a wry smirk, her arms folded directly over her chest.  
"I am." he informed her, pointing to the only snail left on the path.  
"What?!" she squawked, looking around in confusion.  
"A bird swooped in and ate your snail." Itachi stated, getting to his feet to go back inside before the rain began. Totally at a loss Lokier began to follow the Uchiha inside, totally oblivious to the ebony crow sitting directly above them on the ledge with the missing snail clasped in its beak.

Having been followed back to his room, and forced to sit at his study desk since Lokier had taken to laying spread out on his bed, the Uchiha began to question when he had even given her permission to come into his room in the first place.  
"Do you think you'll win?" Lokier asked, totally aware of the in-coming battle that would eventually come to pass.  
"Time will tell." he wisely asked, but she did not seem that impressed.  
"You wont _let_ him win, will you?" she questioned, her gaze narrowing.  
"No. It would defeat the purpose of what I've been trying to accomplish this entire time." he replied, while she slowly sat up in the dim light to examine him.

His sharingan was nowhere to be seen, it had been sitting idly upon his iris while they were outside but not now, now the only thing there was the ebony sheen of his natural eye-colour. Whether he was tired or felt no immediate threat while in her presence remained to be seen however.  
"You should let your eyes rest more often, you have nice eyes." she commented, his once distant gaze turning to focus on her instead. He had been zoning out a lot recently.

Pondering what could possibly be on his mind Lokier pulled her limbs into her body and then patted the space beside her.  
"Hey, come sit with me; you look like one of Sasori's dolls sitting like that." she spoke, not entirely expecting him to actually come over to her, but there he was; getting to his feet, slowly pacing over to her and eventually getting onto the bed to rest beside her. Rather taken aback Lokier found herself touching his forehead to make sure he was not coming down with another fever, her other hand then monitoring the beat of the pulse in his wrist.  
"What are you doing?" he questioned, keeping a firm eye on her.  
"You're acting weird." she answered, however he did not feel any different from the usual. "Hmm." she spoke, leaning away. "Did Deidara's death bother you that much?" she decided to then ask.  
"No." he simply answered. "We never saw eye to eye." he added, shutting his eyes after going back to looking up at the ceiling.  
"I guess that's true." she admitted.

Staring off in thought Lokier wondered what to particularly do before a thought came to to her mind as he began to sit up properly.  
"Hey, Itachi, I had a thought." she began, lifting her arms to weave it behind his back and grab his shoulder to pull him towards her so his head was against her chin. "This normally cheers up the girls in the village, so maybe it'll work on you." she explained matter of factually while he stiffened, the last thing Itachi liked was human contact and she had already broken through his personal boundaries twice now. Leaning against her for a good minute Itachi gave the wall a dry stare eventually, his brow lowering ever so slowly.  
"I'm pretty sure this should be role reversed." he informed her, not too pleased to be the girl in this situation more than anything else.  
"Pft, stop complaining." she grunted, giving him a few heavy thuds on the back. "I'm trying to be a bro'." she added, causing his head to turn against her shoulder to look up at him.  
"I don't need another useless brother." he informed her, while she simply rolled her eyes.  
"Then a big sister." she corrected herself thereafter.  
"We're the same age, but I am, technically, older than you." Itachi stated, while she just deepened her frown.  
"Fine, fine; just sister!" she complained, beginning to wish she had not brought it up.

Observing him Lokier's eyes widened upon the very sight of Itachi actually smiling, something she did not think possible. Unable to voice her surprise the albino simply bore her lilac eyes into him wishing she could do something to save this moment other than savour it by not blinking for even a moment, her stomach churning with disappointment when he finally allowed his face to settle back to its usual blank, stoic default.  
"Your face is red." Itachi observed, as if he was not aware of the fact that he had even smiled in the first place, however Lokier had her own doubts that he had done herself despite seeing the smile with her own two eyes. "What's with that stupid expression?" he then asked.  
"I didn't know you were able to smiling." she answered simply, pointing her index finger at him in surprise.  
"Of course I'm capable." he answered dryly, his head turning to allow him to stare elsewhere.  
"Do it again." she requested, trying to get him to face her again.

Flattening his expression, for all too many times this evening.  
"Be quiet before I kick you out of my room." he murmured, his patience beginning to wane.  
"Hey, that's no way to treat a friend. I managed to get Pein to bring you dangos too." she huffed, crossing her arms in annoyance as she informed him of her kindness. "I guess I'll be eating all six of them by myself tonight." she continued.  
"You'll be sick if you attempt it." he warned her, while she just grinned stupidly.  
"No way, I could eat a barrel full of them." Lokier corrected him, but Itachi was not so sure. "And besides, if I don't eat all six you'll have eaten them all by tomorrow morning all by yourself." she huffed, remembering the results of last time she left her desserts alone with the Uchiha. "And besides… You're getting kind of chubby." the albino teased, not that Itachi found it funny.

Returning to silence Itachi quietly mulled over a few things, namely Lokier's constant attempts to associate herself with more than just a fellow colleague where he was concerned. Perhaps that was what was left for him to attend to, the bridge he needed to face before he could cross it. Gazing at Lokier the Uchiha thought long and hard about the siltation at hand, what was Lokier to him? Other than a minor irritation. He supposed she was the closest thing he had to a 'friend.'  
"Hey, all this talk of dangos has me hungry, let's go make dinner." Lokier stated, breaking him out of his deep train of thought.  
"Hn." he answered, slowly getting up to follow after the albino who was already at the door and leaving.

Sitting in the kitchen eating Itachi quietly ate in the gloomy room as Lokier devoured everything in sight par the dishes and cutlery, a sight that would remind him that she had not left all of her weirdly animalistic tenancies behind with age, at least it kept her quiet for a little while he supposed. Rubbing her stomach Lokier licked her lips and eye-balled her dangos as she reached forward to pick one of up and stick it into her mouth. Drawing the first to her mouth Itachi watched, with minor disbelief that for once reached his face, as she managed to fit all three into her gob with room still to allow her to chew and swallow with ease.  
"Majestic as always." Zetsu mocked, appearing from a corner of the ceiling to look upon the pair from above.  
"Zetsu." Itachi greeted plainly, having finally finished his own dinner at a far more realistic pace.  
"The leader wishes for you to proceed as planned sooner than expected. You are you leave on your mission tonight." the plant informed him, only leaving once Itachi nodded. So his time had come.

Retiring to his room after dinner Itachi sat preparing the required tools he would need for his mission in silence, as always. His ebony eyes glancing towards the clock on the wall as he got to his feet and made his final preparations to leave, before he could go however Lokier had appeared at his door, not an unusual visit either as she always came to wish him good-luck in Pein's stead. For once she had a stern look on her face, as if she knew just as well as he did that this would be their last. Seeing such an adult expression on her face really did not suit Lokier in his opinion.  
"I came to see you off." she informed him as he walked towards her, in no mood to postpone the inevitable any longer.

Being stopped by a box being pushed to his stomach Itachi paused and looked down at it, the ridiculous rabbit on the top of the blue box peering up at him as he slowly took it, though its contents remained a mystery to him until she explained herself.  
"… It's my last dango." she explained, glancing to her left and towards the floor. "I guess I couldn't win this one either." the albino admitted, lowering her hand when she was sure he had a good grip on the box.

Examining it a little longer Itachi placed the box away where it would be safe and out of sight, left Kisame mocked him for carrying a girly bento box around again, and gazed upon Lokier one last time; and for once he felt almost a little sad that this would be the last time he would see her, perhaps now would be a good time to cross that damned bridge. Beginning to walk past her Itachi placed his hand onto her shoulder and squeezed it tightly.  
"You've been a good friend." he murmured into her ear as he gazed through the open door before lifting his hand off to continue walking.  
"You better kill him, Itachi; or I swear to the gods I'll tie the long hair on your head to the short hair on your ass and kick you down the street." she threatened, to which he smirked.  
"Just when I think you've said the stupidest thing ever you keep talking." he replied, disappearing out the door.  
"Come back alive." she whispered, smiling gently.


End file.
